Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle's Fabrication of Aboriginal History

by Robert Manne (editor)

In December 2002, The Fabrication of Aboriginal History Vol.1 by Keith Windschuttle was published. It argued that violence between whites and Aboriginals in colonial Tasmania had been vastly exaggerated and sought to rewrite the most contentious part of Australian history, attracting much coverage, including heated criticism. Until now Windschuttle’s arguments, agenda and methods have not been comprehensively examined. Whitewash collects Australia’s leading writers on Aboriginal history to re-examine the points in the book. The result is an authoritative account of the history and politics of the colonial frontier and a demolition of revisionism.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Manne is emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University. His recent books include On Borrowed Time, Making Trouble: Essays Against the New Complacency, and The Words that Made Australia (as co-editor). He has written three Quarterly Essays and is a regular contributor to the Monthly and the Guardian.

Reviews

[David Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whiewash is an important rebuttal of many of the arguments made by Keith Windschuttle in The Fabrication of Aboriginal History (Vol 1). It is a must for any student of Australian history or historiography. The essay of Boyce is genius and that of Reynolds is compelling and pulls no punches. While some of the contributions are more polemical and less well written, Whitewash stands the test of time.

[Lhutu Keyho · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important book.
Manne, Boyce, Reynolds and Pybus, all in their own ways, does a wonderful job, getting back at Windschuttle. Fabrication denigrates and belittles the Tasmanian aborigines- their culture, worldview, etc- with the attitude of an imperialist. This book disproves and dismantles not just one blind man’s attitude but the attitudes of the “imperial eye” in its entirety.